Is Midway Park worth a trip?

It depends on what your looking for. Midway Park is geared for families
with small kids. Its not really a Teen or Adult Park.

Its been a few years since I've been there. Its now owned by New York
state - as the Walsh family decided to retire a few years ago and
couldn't get anyone to buy the park.

I don't know if the state made any changes to the ride roster.

They have Arcade / Skee Ball, Go Karts, and plenty of Allen Herschell
kiddie rides including a Little Dipper coaster. A train ride goes around
the front of the park. There is also a Mini Golf, Bumper cars and a 1968
Carousel.

The old ballroom ( along the lake) is still there and a roller rink is
on the second floor. I'm not sure if it is still open to the public.
When the Walsh's operated it the last few seasons it was open to private
groups and not the park patrons. I think it was a big mistake closing it
to the general public.

I loved skating in there when I'd go. They would let you bring your own
skates or rollerblades.

Due to pollution & insurance cost the lake was closed to swimming at the
park.

The gift shop on the ballroom houses a museum as well. I think the park
is 110 years old this season.

Its about 45 mile from Waldameer park in Erie, PA.

Enjoy,

harryface

>
> Canobie are you talking about Waldameer Park? That's my home park!  : )


Yeah. I was thinking if Midway opens at like 10 or 11am. I could spend
an hour there before going down to Waldmeer as they dont open the
rides until 1pm?

As for the power vs nonpower.... I'll stick with the "well, RCDB
counts it" rule --- And the fact that I counted them as coaster before
I knew people didnt think they were coasters.... And before I knew
people even kept track of how many they've been on ;)

On Jul 26, 11:14 am, Canobie...@********** wrote:
> > Canobie are you talking about Waldameer Park? That's my home park!  : )
>
> Yeah. I was thinking if Midway opens at like 10 or 11am. I could spend
> an hour there before going down to Waldmeer as they dont open the
> rides until 1pm?
>
> As for the power vs nonpower.... I'll stick with the "well, RCDB
> counts it" rule --- And the fact that I counted them as coaster before
> I knew people didnt think they were coasters.... And before I knew
> people even kept track of how many they've been on ;)

You are correct. Waldameer doesn't open the park rides until 1 p.m.
The water park, however, opens at 11 a.m.
A great time to go to Waldameer is on a weekday in June. That's
because they open the park at 10:30 then due to the school picnics.
And even though there are lots of kids there, the park still doesn't
get crowded to the point where you can't get a lot of rides.

But even this time of the year it's a great time to go. Weekends can
get pretty crowded, but weekdays are not bad at all. I was at
Waldameer again a couple of weeks ago (on a weekday). The lines were
still pretty short and the crowds weren't bad at all.

Waldameer is my home park. But I also don't understand why they don't
open the park rides earlier, say 11:00 a.m. or 11:30.

On Jul 26, 11:14 am, Canobie...@********** wrote:
> > Canobie are you talking about Waldameer Park? That's my home park!  : )
>
> Yeah. I was thinking if Midway opens at like 10 or 11am. I could spend
> an hour there before going down to Waldmeer as they dont open the
> rides until 1pm?
>
> As for the power vs nonpower.... I'll stick with the "well, RCDB
> counts it" rule --- And the fact that I counted them as coaster before
> I knew people didnt think they were coasters.... And before I knew
> people even kept track of how many they've been on ;)

Have you been to Waldameer before? If so, will this be your first ride
on the Ravine Flyer II? You are really in for a treat.

Yeah, Next next week will be my first time ever at the park. I planed
to go there and CLP in 05 when I was at Darien Lake, but both parks
didnt open for the season tul the week after I was in the area.

On Jul 27, 3:08 pm, Canobie...@********** wrote:
> Yeah, Next next week will be my first time ever at the park. I planed
> to go there and CLP in 05 when I was at Darien Lake, but both parks
> didnt open for the season tul the week after I was in the area.

I'm really excited for you. Waldameer is a great place. You're in for
a treat. For many years it was mostly just a "kids" park. But in the
past decade they've added several adult-oriented attractions: the
Ravine Flyer II this year, the Steel Dragon spinning coaster in 2004
(or '05), and a 140-foot drop tower ride last year. Waldameer also is
home to a really nice log plume ride called Thunder River. And if you
like dark rides, Waldameer is home to two "classic" ones--a
walkthrough and a ride-through--that were both designed by legendary
dark ride designer Bill Tracey.

Don't worry if you get there too early. You can still have fun at a
few places just adjacent to Waldameer:

1. Waldameer is located very close to Lake Erie. The main entrance to
Waldameer is on Peninsula Drive. Further up the road on Peninsula
Drive are many nice sandy beaches.

2. The Tom Ridge Center is located right across the street from
Waldameer. You'll see it. It's a big complex with a tower. The TRC is
basically a big environmental museum with all sorts of cool exhibits
and displays about the wildlife and water of Lake Erie and the
surrounding landscape. I'm not normally into this kind of stuff, but
even *I* was impressed by the Tom Ridge Center. The exhibits were damn
neat. And It costs ZERO to tour this place (free parking too). So if
you have some time to kill it might be a nice stop for you. The
observation tower is pretty high there and it gives a great view of
the Ravine Flyer II and Lake Erie. Ravine Flyer II actually crosses
Peninsula Drive and turns around on the other side of the road. This
means that the ride comes VERY close to the Tom Ridge Center. You get
great views of Waldameer and of Ravine Flyer II from the observation
tower at the Tom Ridge Center.

3. Sara's restaurant is also right down the road from Waldameer
(towards the Beaches) on Peninsula Drive. Sara's is a very nice 1950s-
style restaurant. It's very close to the park. In fact, you should
actually be able to see this little place from the first hill of
Ravine Flyer II. The food is really good there--hamburgers, hot dogs,
fries, old-fashioned coke in a bottle, great ice cream and other
stuff.

I hope you enjoy your trip to Waldameer and Erie. It's really too bad
that Conneaut Lake Park isn't open because it's only about 45 miles
from Waldameer. The Blue Streak coaster there was legendary.

MAKE SURE YOU GET TO RIDE RF2 AT NIGHT!!
OH MY GOD!!
<RidgemontRat77884@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:289ae189-c039-46c9-8738-867cf539f65a@m73g2000hsh.************.com...
On Jul 26, 11:14 am, Canobie...@********** wrote:
> > Canobie are you talking about Waldameer Park? That's my home park! : )
>
> Yeah. I was thinking if Midway opens at like 10 or 11am. I could spend
> an hour there before going down to Waldmeer as they dont open the
> rides until 1pm?
>
> As for the power vs nonpower.... I'll stick with the "well, RCDB
> counts it" rule --- And the fact that I counted them as coaster before
> I knew people didnt think they were coasters.... And before I knew
> people even kept track of how many they've been on ;)

Have you been to Waldameer before? If so, will this be your first ride
on the Ravine Flyer II? You are really in for a treat.

On Aug 10, 1:26 pm, "Andrew Brawley" <fadedj_d...@coasterboys.com>
wrote:

> Golly guys...  We'd better do as he says.  He sounds kinda tough.

Nope.

George